Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Chemung Canal Trust Co.

Chemung Canal Trust Co. lessened its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 32.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,547 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 4,508 shares during the period. Chemung Canal Trust Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invariant Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $180,088,000 after acquiring an additional 23,863 shares in the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,143,000 after purchasing an additional 6,688 shares during the period. Finally, Ticino Wealth purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $1,837,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Bank of America began coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $397.96.

Visa Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE V opened at $341.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $613.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $359.66. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $323.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $324.40.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.